Posts tagged "gifting"

Elderly people need to have a proper estate planning strategy to ensure they leave all their belongings to the right people after death. However, many people fail to do this. A report from the American Association of Retired Persons shows that only four out of every 10 adults in the United States of America actually have a will.

On behalf of Michael A. Manna & Associates posted in Probate on Friday, March 15, 2013.

Out of state real property carries extra challenges in probate court when compared to other assets. Because such property cannot be transported across state lines, the state in which it resides has an interest in its administration, and a separate probate process is usually required to ensure that the proper parties receive title.

On behalf of Michael A. Manna & Associates posted in Wills on Tuesday, June 26, 2012.

The court appointed public administrator for the deceased copper heiress Huguette Clark is reportedly seeking to have recipients return $37 million in gifts. According to the administrator, Clark's caretakers took advantage of her feebleness and exerted undue influence on her to make the gifts. In addition, the administrator has asked for an investigation into whether a hospital where Clark received care should be required to return a $6 million Manet and whether an art gallery in Washington should be required to return a $250,000 donation.

Minimizing estate and gifts taxes is an issue which is on the minds of a lot of those with estate plans. And minimizing estate and gift taxes is a central goal of estate planning attorneys, who employ a number of tools and approaches to get the job done.

As our readers may know, big changes may be in store for estate planners and their clients in 2013, and time is running out to take advantage of favorable estate planning conditions. In fact, the current situation is the most favorable estate and gifting environment since the creation of the Internal Revenue Code. Other favorable factors include historically low interest rates and widespread undervaluation of real estate

A recent article out of the Wall Street Journal addressed the interesting topic of the place of religion in estate planning. One of the messages of the article was that you can't do adequate estate planning without at least asking the question of how/whether religious beliefs factor into your estate plan.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article discussing the recent changes in the federal gift and estate tax system. As the article points out, the changes have led to the most generous estate and gift tax rates since 1931.

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